Checkup: Health news in brief

Published 4:45 pm, Friday, November 2, 2012

Workplace smoking ban cut heart attacks

A new study has found the strongest evidence yet that smoke-free workplace laws that reduce secondhand smoke inhalation can lead to reductions in heart attacks. The research, carried out by scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., found a 33 percent drop in heart attack rates in one Minnesota county after public smoking bans were enacted.

"I think the bottom line is this should turn the page on the chapter discussing whether or not secondhand smoke is a risk factor for heart attacks," said Dr. Richard D. Hurt, an author of the study and a professor of medicine at Mayo.

Published in Archives of Internal Medicine, the study examined medical data in Olmsted County over two periods: the 18 months before the county banned smoking in restaurants in 2002, and the 18 months after it extended the ban to bars and all workplaces in 2007. Hurt and his colleagues found that while rates of hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol and obesity remained constant or increased after the bans, the incidence of heart attacks dropped sharply.

Washing your hands after using the bathroom — not to mention after touching any number of public surfaces — is a basic rule of hygiene. Yet we don't always do it properly, if at all.

Respondents to a recent survey said they washed their hands an average of 87 percent of the time after using a public restroom, and 62 percent said they have rinsed their hands post-bathroom without using soap. The survey of more than 1,000 people in the U.S. was conducted by Bradley Corp., manufacturer of washroom accessories.

Considering people risk transferring germs from their dirty hands to their eyes, noses and mouths, lazy hand washers could use a refresher. The key is to cover all surfaces of the hands, including between the fingers and in the crevices around fingernails, with a good amount of friction, said Elaine Larson, associate dean for research at Columbia University School of Nursing. Soap is important, not because it kills bacteria, but because it acts as an emulsifier to slip the germs off the hands, she said.

"Gluten-free" is a buzzword these days. But even as awareness of celiac disease grows, its cause remains unclear. One hypothesis is that the season in which a person is born may influence the development of this digestive disorder. Some researchers suspect that those born in the spring and summer are more susceptible to the disease, which is triggered by gluten in wheat, barley and rye.

Babies usually begin eating foods containing gluten around 6 months, so those born in the warmer months would initially be exposed to gluten in the winter, when infections like cold and flu are common. Could early exposure to viruses play a role in the autoimmune response to gluten?

For now that remains speculation. But at least three studies have backed the seasonal hypothesis. The most recent, published in The Journal of Pediatrics, looked at nearly 2,000 people with celiac disease. The researchers, at the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, concluded that more of the patients were born in the spring than in any other season.